Incense burners are well known and have been in use for many years. Burners of various designs are appropriate for different applications ranging from religious services to a device for killing flying insects and/or dispensing a pleasant aroma.
For example, a U.S. Pat. No. 3,058,178 of Campagna relates to a portable incense burner that is particularly well suited for use in religious ceremonies. Early burners placed burning charcoals in a portable receptacle provided with holes in the wall to permit air to pass to the charcoal to keep it burning and to permit the escape of incensed fumes. Incense is placed over the burning coal to produce the fumes. In order to overcome a problem associated with receptacles becoming very hot on the outer surface, and the inconvenience of refilling at an inconvenient time, Campagna teaches the use of an electrical socket and a thermostat to control the heat applied to the incense.
A more recent patent Rogers, U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,375 discloses an incense burner consisting of an exterior receptacle fitted with an ash collecting basket and supporting a cigarette lighter within the receptacle together with an axially disposed spindle. A disc having a plurality of circumferentially disposed holes dimensioned to accept sticks of incense is supplied on the spindle above the receptacle and a wire meshed cap is fitted over the disc at the top of the receptacle. The disc can be rotated to permit selective ignition of one or more incense sticks.
An even more recent patent of Gaines, U.S. Pat. No. 6,495,107 discloses an incense burner comprising a base portion and a removable tapered stack portion and which includes an electric fan to dispose incense smoke. The base portion defines a fan retention cavity configured to retain the electric fan. Attached to the top of the electric fan is a vented platform containing a plurality of vents and an incense retainer aperture. An incense retainer retains an ignited dip stick of incense and is positioned into the incense retainer aperture. A tapered stack which includes a smoke retardant ring is removably positioned on top of the vented platform. The electric fan is switched on thereby causing the incense smoke to present itself in a pleasing manner.
Notwithstanding the above it is presently believed that there is a potential demand and a commercial market for an incense burner and storage device in accordance with the present invention. There should be a demand because such burners and storage devices combine a traditional burner in that the incense is disposed on a piece of burning charcoal with a storage device for incense, charcoal and flame supporting means. The burner and storage device also incorporate a pair of tweezers for adding incense and/or charcoal without the risk of burning oneself. In addition, the burner and storage device also provides an easily replaceable disposable cigarette lighter without departing from the appearance of the device. Finally the burner and storage device is durable, includes ceramic elements that are exposed to a flame and are long lasting construction.